Consistently high nitrate

I don't touch the substrate much on my tanks with plants. I might hit it gently with a gravel vac every once it a while during a water change. I don't touch the black sand in my 29g at all. Feeding with the high protein stuff will increase nitrates. I would feed a quality pellet or flake as a staple feed, with shrimp, bloodworms, etc, as a once per week treat. Too much protein = lots of nitrates.
 
I agree with tanker tanker , you need a base reading of your nitrates from your tap water. I bet it's high out of the faucet. Put some in a glass and let it sit 24 hours, then test it. As for the test at the store, it sounds to me like he did it wrong: you're supposed to wait five minutes after the one-minute shake to let the color develop.

That said, you've done a great job with that tank. And I love wisteria.

Shrimp crawling around on the skull has to be creepy, too... :eek: :D
 
Nitrogen cycle, ammonia /nitrite /nitrate. As an outsider it might appear to me that you have an excellent bed of beneficial bacteria that is working well to digest excess ammonia. What could be producing the excess ammonia? Glad you moved the decorations, underneath them can often be a source of debris build up (fish food, dead leaves). Could there be dead leaves somewhere in the substrate you have not seen? How about your filter, rinse the media in a bucket of discarded AQ water? Very curious to see how you get this resolved:)

Babysat any toddlers lately that might have dumped too much food in? J/K, reaching here for possibilities.
 
Thanks everyone!!!

I tested my tap, tho it was directly from the tap, and it read zero nitrite. Will fill a glass container and let it sit, then test it tomorrow evening.

I vac around plants and decorations, then net out the floating wisteria leaves. I don't usually see a lot of plant debris in the tank. Filter media was changed a week ago Sunday, when I did the 50% plus water change. I had a very slight ammonia spike when I changed the filter media, but it's gone back to less than .25. No nitrite at all.

I was feeding frozen foods to encourage the rams to eat. They are rather finicky. I feed TetraPro tropical color crisps as the staple food, but occasionally drop in algae wafers or carnivore pellets (both Hikari, and only 2 for the BNs). I recently got some Omega One veggie mini pellets, which I feed on occasion instead of the crisps. I have the ghost shrimp, so I try to feed enough for them, and nothing sits in the tank very long.

Will also try changing out some water daily and see if that helps. That might be some good after work therapy, LOL!
 
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Took a sample from my tap, let it sit about 48 hours, and it's reading zero for nitrate.

Tested everything with the new kit, and get the same readings as the old kit.
Ammonia is less than .25
Nitrite is zero
PH is 7.0
And nitrate is still 40 plus, probably closer to 80.

Drastically cut back on feeding. Just one cube of frozen brine shrimp last night, and veggie pellets the day before.
 
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Do you thaw the frozen food in water & dump it in or let it melt in the tank? Maybe there's a lot of liquidy other "stuff" in addition to intact shrimp or worms that may add to the problem. There were differences in brands of worms & shrimp as far as small bits went as I recall (also cubes vs flat packs when I had a lot more fish of many sizes).
 
I thaw the frozen food in filtered drinking water, then spoon it into the tank. San Francisco Bay brand "Fish Gumdrops". Been using this brand for years. And I cut back on feeding. Frozen every other night or every third night.

I considered additional stuff in the frozen food, but it's the fact that I tested my water immediately before doing a massive water change, and then got the exact same nitrate reading 24 hours after swapping out 50% of the water.

I also considered dust getting into the tank - there's constant construction around here, and I have other pets - but my tank is almost completely sealed.

Sooooo, looks like daily WCs to bring the nitrate down, and then keep an eye on things to see if i can figure it out. Also considered NitraZorb or Purigen.

But one last thought, could the tannins from the mopani affect nitrate? I know it eventually lowers the pH, and I can't tell if the mopani discolors the water much because of the dark wall behind the tank.
 
Take the Moss balls out and put in a different container with fresh/new water. Test that water after 2-3 days. Maybe something in the moss balls.
 
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